Numbers 8:24-26

8:24 “This is what pertains to the Levites: ¹  At the age of twenty-five years ²  and upward one may begin to join the company ³  in the work of the tent of meeting, 8:25 and at the age of fifty years they must retire from performing the work and may no longer work. 8:26 They may assist ⁴  their colleagues ⁵  in the tent of meeting, to attend to needs, but they must do no work. This is the way you must establish ⁶  the Levites regarding their duties.”

Genesis 41:46

41:46 Now Joseph was 30 years old ⁷  when he began serving ⁸  Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph was commissioned by ⁹  Pharaoh and was in charge of ¹⁰  all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:1

Joseph’s Rise to Power

41:1 At the end of two full years ¹¹  Pharaoh had a dream. ¹²  As he was standing by the Nile,

Genesis 23:3

23:3 Then Abraham got up from mourning his dead wife ¹³  and said to the sons of Heth, ¹⁴ 

Genesis 23:1

The Death of Sarah

23:1 Sarah lived 127 years. ¹⁵ 

Genesis 28:12-13

28:12 and had a dream. ¹⁶  He saw ¹⁷  a stairway ¹⁸  erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens. The angels of God were going up and coming down it 28:13 and the Lord stood at its top. He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. ¹⁹  I will give you and your descendants the ground ²⁰  you are lying on.

Luke 3:23

The Genealogy of Jesus

3:23 So ²¹  Jesus, when he began his ministry, ²²  was about thirty years old. He was ²³  the son (as was supposed) ²⁴  of Joseph, the son ²⁵  of Heli,

Luke 3:1

The Ministry of John the Baptist

3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ²⁶  when Pontius Pilate ²⁷  was governor of Judea, and Herod ²⁸  was tetrarch ²⁹  of Galilee, and his brother Philip ³⁰  was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ³¹  was tetrarch of Abilene,

Luke 3:6

3:6 and all humanity ³²  will see the salvation of God.’” ³³ 

[8:24]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has “this [is that] which [pertains] to the Levites.” “This is what concerns the Levites, meaning, the following rulings are for them.

[8:24]  ² tc The age of twenty-five indicated in v. 24 should be compared with the age of thirty indicated in Num 4:3,23,30. In order to harmonize the numbers given in chapter 4 with the number given in Num 8:24 the LXX (and perhaps its Hebrew Vorlage) has thirty in all of these references. See further G. J. Wenham, Numbers (TOTC 4), 97-98.

[8:24]  ³ tn The infinitive is לִצְבֹא (litsvo’), related to the word for “host, army, company,” and so “to serve as a company.” The meaning is strengthened by the cognate accusative following it.

[8:26]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Piel perfect of שָׁרַת (sharat, “to serve, minister”). Here the form has the vav (ו) consecutive, and so is equal to the imperfect tense stressing permission. After the Levites reached the age of retirement, they were permitted to assist the others, but were not permitted to do the work themselves.

[8:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “brothers,” but the meaning in this context is “fellow Levites.”

[8:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “you shall do, make.”

[41:46]  ⁷ tn Heb “a son of thirty years.”

[41:46]  ⁸ tn Heb “when he stood before.”

[41:46]  ⁹ tn Heb “went out from before.”

[41:46]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he passed through all the land of Egypt”; this phrase is interpreted by JPS to mean that Joseph “emerged in charge of the whole land.”

[41:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “two years, days.”

[41:1]  ¹² tn Heb “was dreaming.”

[23:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “And Abraham arose from upon the face of his dead.”

[23:3]  ¹⁴ tn Some translate the Hebrew term “Heth” as “Hittites” here (also in vv. 5, 7, 10, 16, 18, 20), but this gives the impression that these people were the classical Hittites of Anatolia. However, there is no known connection between these sons of Heth, apparently a Canaanite group (see Gen 10:15), and the Hittites of Asia Minor. See H. A. Hoffner, Jr., “Hittites,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 152-53.

[23:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And the years of Sarah were one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.”

[28:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and dreamed.”

[28:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and look.” The scene which Jacob witnessed is described in three clauses introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh). In this way the narrator invites the reader to witness the scene through Jacob’s eyes. J. P. Fokkelman points out that the particle goes with a lifted arm and an open mouth: “There, a ladder! Oh, angels! and look, the Lord himself” (Narrative Art in Genesis [SSN], 51-52).

[28:12]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew noun סֻלָּם (sullam, “ladder, stairway”) occurs only here in the OT, but there appears to be an Akkadian cognate simmiltu (with metathesis of the second and third consonants and a feminine ending) which has a specialized meaning of “stairway, ramp.” See H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 34. For further discussion see C. Houtman, “What Did Jacob See in His Dream at Bethel? Some Remarks on Genesis 28:10-22,” VT 27 (1977): 337-52; J. G. Griffiths, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 76 (1964/65): 229-30; and A. R. Millard, “The Celestial Ladder and the Gate of Heaven,” ExpTim 78 (1966/67): 86-87.

[28:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” The Hebrew word for “father” can typically be used in a broader sense than the English word, in this case referring to Abraham (who was Jacob’s grandfather). For stylistic reasons and for clarity, the words “your father” are supplied with “Isaac” in the translation.

[28:13]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets) can mean “[the] earth,” “land,” “region,” “piece of ground,” or “ground” depending on the context. Here the term specifically refers to the plot of ground on which Jacob was lying, but at the same time this stands by metonymy for the entire land of Canaan.

[3:23]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the summary nature of the statement.

[3:23]  ²² tn The words “his ministry” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the contemporary English reader.

[3:23]  ²³ tn Grk “of age, being.” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle ὤν (wn) has been translated as a finite verb with the pronoun “he” supplied as subject, and a new sentence begun in the translation at this point.

[3:23]  ²⁴ sn The parenthetical remark as was supposed makes it clear that Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus. But a question still remains whose genealogy this is. Mary is nowhere mentioned, so this may simply refer to the line of Joseph, who would have functioned as Jesus’ legal father, much like stepchildren can have when they are adopted by a second parent.

[3:23]  ²⁵ tc Several of the names in the list have alternate spellings in the ms tradition, but most of these are limited to a few mss. Only significant differences are considered in the notes through v. 38.

[3:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “Emperor Tiberius” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[3:1]  ²⁷ sn The rule of Pontius Pilate is also described by Josephus, J. W. 2.9.2-4 (2.169-177) and Ant. 18.3.1 (18.55-59).

[3:1]  ²⁸ sn Herod refers here to Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. He ruled from 4 b.c.-a.d. 39, sharing the rule of his father’s realm with his two brothers. One brother, Archelaus (Matt 2:22) was banished in a.d. 6 and died in a.d. 18; the other brother, Herod Philip (mentioned next) died in a.d. 34.

[3:1]  ²⁹ sn A tetrarch was a ruler with rank and authority lower than a king, who ruled only with the approval of the Roman authorities. This was roughly equivalent to being governor of a region. Several times in the NT, Herod tetrarch of Galilee is called a king (Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29), reflecting popular usage.

[3:1]  ³⁰ sn Philip refers to Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great and brother of Herod Antipas. Philip ruled as tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis from 4 b.c.-a.d. 34.

[3:1]  ³¹ sn Nothing else is known about Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene.

[3:6]  ³² tn Grk “all flesh.”

[3:6]  ³³ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3-5. Though all the synoptic gospels use this citation from Isaiah, only Luke cites the material of vv. 5-6. His goal may well be to get to the declaration of v. 6, where all humanity (i.e., all nations) see God’s salvation (see also Luke 24:47).